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Bank of America CorpSuphajee confident Section 301 tariff deal will be closed during Anutin's US mission
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Suphajee Suthumpun, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce, said she is confident that the Thailand Team mission led by Anutin Charnvirakul, Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, during 22-24 September 2026 will be able to negotiate a deal to close the Section 301 tariff issue. The US mission includes attending the opening ceremony of UNGA81 and the general debate at the United Nations headquarters, holding talks with Rebeca Grynspan, Costa Rica's candidate for UN Secretary-General, a roundtable with investors together with Bank of America, a meeting with executives of Pacific Investment Management Company, or PIMCO, and attending a reception hosted by the President of the United States. Earlier, on 18 September 2026, Suphajee travelled to the Philippines to attend the ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting, or AEM, and held sideline talks with Rick Switzer, Deputy United States Trade Representative, or USTR, to align the details. This discussion was a follow-up to the previous trip to Washington, D.C., where the main framework of principles for the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade, or ART, had already been agreed with the USTR, leaving only the polishing and adjustment of wording in the technical contract text to be aligned. Thailand's main goal is to complete negotiations on the ART agreement in order to keep the tariff rate within the original target range, close to that of ASEAN neighbours that have already signed ART agreements, such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia. The United States announced tariffs on countries with which it runs a trade deficit, and Thailand ranks 11th in the world in trade surplus with the United States. The government wants to negotiate the tariff rate down to 19%, but details of non-tariff measures under the ART framework have not yet been fully negotiated. If the ART talks fail, Thailand will not be able to use the 19% rate. The United States subsequently announced measures under Section 301, which has two target areas Thailand must negotiate. The first is forced labour, under which Thailand has been assigned a tariff rate of 12.5%, while neighbouring countries that have already signed ART agreements received a rate of 10%, forcing Thailand to speed up completion of the ART to bring its tariff rate down to 10% to match its neighbours. The second is structural overcapacity, on which the United States is due to announce results soon, and Thailand must complete the ART negotiations before that announcement so that its tariffs do not end up higher than competitors' and remain within the original ceiling of no more than 19%. Suphajee also addressed the impact of the US announcement of higher tariffs on Russia and countries that buy energy from Russia, saying there is no direct impact, but there could be indirect effects from global geopolitical factors.
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